Most frequent presenting symptoms in the authors practice

The most common presenting symptoms in the author's practice 8 were identified, with the emphasis being on pain syndromes:

• disturbance of bowel function

• pain in joints/limbs

• sleep problems

• tiredness/fatigue

• vaginal discomfort

These symptoms should accurately reflect Australian general practice since the rural practice would represent an appropriate cross-section of the community's morbidity, and the recording and classification of data from the one practitioner would be consistent.